On July 14, 1988, 41-year-old Lisa Lau Tu, also known as Chuan-Yu Lau, was last seen at her home on Deep Spring Drive in Potomac, Maryland. Her common-law husband, Gregory Mung-Sen Tu, claimed he had taken her to the airport for a flight to San Francisco to visit a sick friend. However, investigation revealed that while a ticket was purchased in Lisa's name, the seat was empty during the flight.
The friend in San Francisco was not sick and had not heard from Lisa in months, raising immediate concerns about her welfare.
The investigation into Lisa Tu's disappearance quickly focused on her common-law husband, Gregory Tu. Authorities discovered a history of frequent arguments between the couple, often centered on financial issues. Lisa was financially secure, while Gregory was experiencing financial difficulties. A significant point of contention was Gregory's unauthorized withdrawal of $44,000 from a college fund for Lisa's son just five days before she vanished. Prosecutors believe Lisa discovered this and confronted him, leading to her murder. The couple's home was in Lisa's name only, and as Maryland does not recognize common-law marriages, Gregory would have had no claim to her property if the relationship ended.
Suspicion mounted when, two days after Lisa's disappearance, Gregory paid a garbage collector to dispose of a loveseat from their home that Lisa often slept on. A search of the Tu residence revealed significant evidence of a violent crime. Though the area had been cleaned, the use of Luminol uncovered a large amount of blood in the basement near where the loveseat had been, with a trail leading to the bathroom and upstairs. DNA testing, a new technology at the time, confirmed the blood belonged to Lisa Tu. Investigators also found a meat cleaver, twine, and plastic wrap in Gregory's Lincoln Town Car, along with blood on the dashboard. A Browning. 380 pistol owned by Gregory also went missing from the home around the same time as Lisa's disappearance.
After agreeing to a polygraph test, Gregory Tu fled the area and was later located and arrested in Las Vegas in September 1988. He was charged with first-degree murder. In 1989, he was convicted, but this conviction was overturned on appeal due to the improper admission of evidence. At his retrial in 1992, Gregory Tu was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Despite the conviction, Gregory Tu has never revealed the location of Lisa's remains, and her body has never been found.Last Seen: Jul 14, 1988
